Do your Chores Change As You Age?

[coventry49]

I, too, am just in my mid-fifties. But a lifetime of a physical lifestyle has left me with a bad back and knees that are wearing out. One of the major things I have done is to scale WAY down the size of my livestock.

When I was in my 30's and 40's I bred horses and even raised some steers for the freezer. Had a huge garden, huge lawn to mow and trim, with lots of fancy landscaping.

Now I go for "small stock": chickens and geese. Looking to do turkeys next year, and perhaps a couple of goats later on. Easier to feed and clean up after, and much more difficult to get really injured by one. I've learned to do more gardening in a smaller space (less compost and manure to haul). The idea of raised beds is looking better every year, but I will need some help in getting them done.

On the Daves Garden website there is a forum for accessible gardening. The posters there have lots of good iedas and advice, as well as discussing their challenges.

I love what I am doing, and the thought that someday I might be too decrepit to live this life, is about the only thing that distresses me. But until then, I will put my brain to figuring out how to work smarter, rather than harder.

[rafter]

Jeeze, and I thought it was just me.

Over the years I have put on a lot of weight. Now I am actively going after it to get rid of it. I am hoping to at least be able to get back to where I was in my 30's. I'm 52....are you telling me that it is impossible??? I want to do the stuff I used to do!!!!!!!!!!!

[katlupe]

I'm not saying it can't be done, it just has to be done differently. And even keeping yourself in tip top shape is no guarantee. My dh was. He could work circles around most men. But he was almost killed in work related accident, and if anyone else had been in his place they probably would have been. So he was lucky, but losing a percentage of his right arm is not good for a homesteader.

We still have our horses and always will. To us, getting rid of them is not an option. But he used to train horses before his accident, and was pretty easy extra money for us. Now he can't do that.

In Backwoods Home Magazine, some time back, someone asked Jackie Clay what they were going to do as they got older. And she told of many changes they had incorporated into their homesteading lifestyle. But now, this past year, she took in her elderly parents to care for, lost her husband and has had cancer. And she has had to work around all those obstacles, while still building a house in the wilderness! But she's a homesteader! And we always march on......

[nehimama]

Entering my mid-50s here. And I DO pick my battles. Lots less mowing, and lots more "wildlife habitats" - LOL!

Have sized down livestock. No more horses, mules, etc. Only two donkeys. Some rabbits, some chickens, some guineas.

Looking to get a couple of dairy goats.

I haul in what wood I can, mostly kindling from out back, but there's no shame in having ready-to-burn firewood brought in and stacked in the barn!

Thankfully, the house is all one level. The uphill trudge to each barn is not very steep. I'm thankful for every time I can stroll up those hills without having to pause. (Awful job when I'm ill with a cold, flu, or bronchitis, though.) I had a water line put in to the barn that's farthest away - a battle I was no longer prepared to carry on during winter months! Hauling 5-gallon buckets! The other barn is closer, and houses only a few rabbits. It's no problem to carry a couple juice bottles of water up there.

Garden is all raised beds, and I am so looking forward to next year's planting season. Although, I am STILL dehydrating & canning. I never want to give that up!

I hope to be here til I'm WAY, WAY old!

NeHi Mama

[WoodsVan]

Aging happens to all of us and I've never run into any one that said they enjoyed all the aches and pains that seem to come along with getting older.

For me the hardest part was mental. My mind thought I was still in my thirties well after the rest of me had reached the late forties. I kept trying to do the same amount of work in the same amount of time that I did it 20 years ago. Not only did I wind up feeling like I'd been run over by a log truck, I scolded myself about not getting all the work done that I'd planned for the day.

It took a few years but now, in my late fifties, I've finally come to grips with it and know how to pace myself better and I don't set my daily work goal so high that I have no chance of achieving it. I still do pretty much every thing I ever did it just takes me a lot more time to do it. Of course I let the tractor/loader take care of much of the stuff I used to lift and tote myself.

Sounds to me like you're doing fine. My wife won't watch me climb either and the fact of the matter is I don't look forward to getting too far off the ground any more either. Past 50 we seem to break instead of bounce.

[Jan Doling]

I'll be 54 in July and it takes longer to do everything. By the time I've worked the stiffness out, my back or knee is ready to call it a day. Some things just don't get done at all. I think if I ever retired (never going to be able to afford that as I had all my kids after age 40!) I would be able to finish a chore or 2 in the same day.

One thing that helps is to have a fire going in the pit so I can be cooking in the dutch oven or kettle on the tripod as I burn weeds, trash, etc. I can weed, burn and do laundry in the front area but then the clothes line is on the back porch and the indoor cleaning is never caught up as I can't stand being cooped up after working in an office all week.

Does anyone have a procedure that includes double tasking or ways to streamline tasks. Please share!

[HilltopDaisy]

I think that as some of us got kind of a late start with this way of life, we found ourselves looking at an incredible amount of physical labor ~ in mid-life. I bought my place at the age of 44 and moved here right after my 45th birthday. This last three years have been joyful, exciting, and the most physically demanding of my entire life. I remember when I first started putting in fence posts.....I could hardly lift the post pounder. By the end of the summer I was handling it like it weighed nothing. Same with stacking hay. And you ain't lived til you're up a ladder, surrounded by little goats, hollering "Whatcha doin' up there??".

I really do think that once the hardest stuff is DONE, I'll be able to handle the day to day chores much more easily. I am definitely getting water piped to the barns next summer! I dread carrying buckets through deep snow to two draft horses. And I hope to get a tractor with a dump trailer next year, for making spring barn cleaning easier.

[jassytoo]

We've had to rethink some things too. We're in our 60's now. No more horses or cattle for us either. We manage small stock just fine but I'm passed the age where I want to argue with a steer. Raised bed gardening helps, got water in the barn now too. We don't raise as many chickens and rabbits as we used to, just enough for our own needs. We still cut our own firewood but mostly stick to the smaller trees that don't need to be split. We have propane back up heat now too, just in case we're not up to all that wood collecting. Mostly we just work smarter ansd slower. No more piling the wheelbarrow with firewood and manhandling it to the house. Now we make 2 trips and save our backs. When we do heavy work we stop and rest more and don't worry about finishing, just do what we can when we can. It is a royal pain though not being able to get a lot more work done than we do, but there's no way we want to change our lifestyle.

[Farmer Willy]

I'm building the place with retirement in mind. Low buildings, reduced stooping, wide doorways. Get the heavy building out of the way now while I can still do it. We still want to put up our woodshop, have half the greenhouse frame up. Making all buildings wheelchair accessible. I may need to change what I do as I get older, but I won't have to worry about where I'm doing it.

[Irish Pixie]

As I've gotten older, I've gotten smarter. Sure, I still can lift and carry 50# bags of grain- but I'll pay for it later. So, I use a wheelbarrow to move bags now. Rather than carry bales of hay to the pasture in the winter, I put them on a sled and ride the bale down the hill.

My youngest daughter and I put in 500+ bales of hay in two days this summer- I can't do that anymore. I was down for over a week, I'll have to hire help for next summer.

Stacy

[nehimama]

Forgot to say this: I've slowed WAY down. It doesn't pay to be in a hurry to get ANYTHING done. Trip over a branch or a loose rock, break an ankle, then where are you? Neglect to put the tractor's safety brake on before you climb down, and it runs over you, then where are you?

A kind neighbor gave me a little riding mower (17 hp - plenty of power) on which the mowing deck had gone kaput. Without the deck, there is plenty of clearance (lots of hills, gullies & big rocks around here). I use it as a mini ATV, pulling a dump cart with it. No more hauling 50# feed bags on my shoulders - into the cart! Same with bales of hay, fencing stuff, etc, etc.

I still get quite a bit done. Not as much as in my younger days, but I can outwork a few relatives my age!

NeHi Mama

[Corky]

DH and I are in our 60's. Me mid, him late. We find that we can still do just about everything we could do 10 years ago but if you think of it, it is because we were city slickers 10 years ago. We were not in shape, but as we worked on clearing the land and building fences and later, buildings, we got in better and better shape and even though we are older we are in good shape now.
WE don't like to lift heavy stuff. We have always used things to help us.
I am little and can't lift 50 lb feed bags so if he is not here for some reason I drag them out of the car into a wheel barrel or better yet onto the front and back of the big 4 wheeler and take them to the barn that way.
I have had to open them in the car and scoop them out into buckets before and take them to the barrels that way before I got the strength to drag them out of the car.
Sunday DH cut up a big tree up on the hill behind the house and we rolled the pieces down the hill and then he lifted them over the fence while I was on the downhill side to catch them and keep them from continuing on down hill. Not wise you say? Well that is what I thought when the first big log came at me but I got it stopped and turned it so it would not roll farther and that log stopped the next one and so on.
It just takes brains to figure out how to get things done. We never want to leave here.

PS.... Splitting wood is not that hard. We rent a log splitter when we get a good size pile that needs splitting and can get a bunch done in one day. A little hard on the back but better than the axe and wedge.

[nehimama]

If TSHTF, Bluetick, your grown children may find that yours is the only place to go! My grown kids live in Florida. One family a 14-hour drive from me; the other family a 10-hour drive from me. They keep after me to "move to Florida". Uh-uh! They'll have to drag me kicking & screaming off my little plot of land. Besides, they've been here THREE TIMES to get out of hurricanes' paths!

NeHi Mama

[3girls]

I'm 71! Is that what's wrong?

I have known of plenty of folks my age and older who can work like teenagers! Look at pictures of Scott Nearing--he worked hard and was very muscular up into his 90's.

I met a guy in the SF Bay Area who was 74 at the time. He was running marathons regularly, and daily swam in the Bay.

I keep thinking that if I can just get going on a regular exercise program, I'll have more energy. I have recently decided that my health and quality of life are the top priorities in my life. (aside from intellectual and spiritual priorities.) I have taken up yoga, am being more consistent with the vitamin program, especially the magnesium, and drinking many glasses of water each day. Getting enough sleep is also imperative. The yoga is considered one of the best forms of exercise for the elderly. It greatly improves the flexibility and balance. There are excellent videos for beginners and for seniors--also classes.

We think that all the work we do provides all the exercise we need, but that activity is inconsistent. I have recently done a lot of study on this yoga stuff and am convinced it will help a lot. My daughter teaches yoga in Naples IT. A recent visit of one month there started me taking it seriously.

I also think that being constantly on the lookout for elegant solutions to the chores we do will be helpful. That is, looking for efficiencies and combining tasks. Letting nature lead the way. Letting the animals do much of the work. I personally think that Joel Salatin and Gene Logsdon have pioneered in that area. While I don't have many acres, I can pick up the philosophy and ideas for my small two acres where I live with my daughter and granddaughter.

One of the things I have done in the last few years is to pick a few of my interests on which to focus my energy. I will have chickens and rabbits, work on my SMALL backyard nursery, and fiddle with daylilies and iris. Inside, I have limited myself to quilting, needlepoint, and counted cross-stitch. Period. I am interested in many many things, but focusing makes for more skill, energy-efficiency, etc. I used to be scattered, have way too much junk around, saved everything that might have some use sometime in the vague future. Making the move out here from the other coast showed me that I was borderline OCD.

I have some choices for the next 20 +/- years. I am making them productive and useful and fitted to my age and energy.

[dlangland]

Originally Posted by bachelorb

I know exactly what you mean. I'm in my mid 40's and had to climb on the barn roof to patch it the other day. I've never been scared of heights in my life, but I guess because I'm getting stiffer, I had second thoughts.

I still like getting firewood. Splitting it is almost enjoyable (kind of like your canning).

I seem to get injured easier now. A couple of months ago I stepped off the tractor and turned my ankle, I also hate hills because it makes my knees ache. I'm not complaining, I still like what I'm doing and will probably do it until the day I die.

I am so glad to know it isn't just me. I am in my 40's, also. I am so very frustrated, though, because it seems just within this last year...When I accidentally wound myself, it seems to take so much longer to feel back to normal. And if I skip a night or two or sleep...really angry with myself. I have to start taking better care of myself. Deb

[sisterpine]

LOL looks like we ALL thought we were the only ones aging! I am 53, DH 58. We began building our own house way back in 99, we are "almost" finished now I find that we can both do pretty much everything we ever did we just do it much much slower, for shorter periods of time and with much more caution. We learned DH has COPD this past summer and just purchased a 4 wheeler with a plow (which we just learned how to use last night)so he wont have to shovel so much snow. We do the same stuff if it interests us we just work "smarter" and now know the value of taking a day off to just sit and ponder life!

[Ramblin Wreck]

Actually, I've been blessed such that I can still do everything I could at 18 (well almost), and I'm 49 now. But son #2 insisted on cleaning the second story gutters the other day, when all I wanted him to do was hold the ladder. He insinuated I was getting too old for that!!! I would have been insulted, but holding the ladder was easier than cleaning the muck out of the gutters. I ate my pride and sat my derrier on the porch roof to hold the ladder for him.

[Corky]

There is a song out there that pretty much tells it.
I AIN'T AS GOOD AS I ONCE WAS, BUT....I'M AS GOOD ONCE AS I EVER WAS!

[turtlehead]

DH and I are making the move from city to homestead right now (moved 3 months ago) and we are mid and late 40s. We have less energy than when younger, and arthritis, and less flexibility. I don't suffer as much as he does because I'm younger and I've always had an active exercise regimen. But I still am beginning to feel my age.

We're finding that the forced activities of homesteading are giving us more stamina, though I feel I do need to get back into a regular exercise program or at least daily stretching. We are working around our limitations, too. We bought a log splitter because frankly we just can't split enough wood to heat through the winter, nor do we have the time to. Our time and energies are better spent elsewhere. Some things we do ourselves but some things we might hire out (like lots and lots of fencing) due to lack of strength, endurance, and time (we both still work full time).

This is a great thread. I was thinking we were the only ones suffering this much, and I was blaming it on our deskjob pasts. Ha!

My Dad is about to be 70 and he lives alone and raises Angus cattle, about a dozen or so head. He's been building a new pole barn for the last couple of years. He's very strong and sefl sufficient, but he takes lots of naps now, too

We've talked about what we'd do when we get too old to take care of this place ourselves. If we none of the kids want to come help out (and if TSHTF we might be overrund with our offspring!) then we'd proably put a trailer on the land and let a young family live here in exchange for working the place. Just an idea. We'll see.

[al]

Both in our seventies, still going strong, jus not as fast also.IF MY BODY WERE A CAR

If my body were a car, this is the time I would be thinking about trading it in for a newer model. I've got bumps and dents and scratches in my finish and my paint job is getting a little dull, but that's not the worst of it.

My fenders are too wide to be considered stylish. They were once as sleek as a little MG; now they look more like an old Buick. (I would say a Cadillac. I don't get very good mileage from my fuel. Both the Buicks we've owned have gotten good mileage for full-sized cars.)

My seat cushions have split open at the seams. My seats are sagging. Seat belts? I gave up all belts when Krispy Cremes opened a shop in my neighborhood.!

Air bags? Forget it. The only bags I have these days are under my eyes. Not counting the saddlebags, of course.

I have soooooo many miles on my odometer. Sure, I've been many places and seen many things, but when's the last time an appraiser factored life experiences against depreciation?

My headlights are out of focus and it's especially hard to see things up close.

My traction is not as graceful as it once was. I slip and slide and skid and bump into things even in the best of weather.

My whitewalls are stained with varicose veins.

It takes me hours to reach my maximum speed. If I ever do. Just standing up anymore hurts my knees and feet.

My fuel rate burns inefficiently. Thus the extra pounds.

But here's the worst of it -- almost every time I sneeze, cough or sputter..... either my radiator leaks or my exhaust backfires. Ain't it the truth!
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P.S.
Or when you try to put on some speed, the stop valve doesn't always stop it. I had that happen to me yesterday. I had to go out to use the little girls room right at the end of a movie. I tried to hurry to get back in before it ended. I got there just in time to see the last scene. Bugger!